


Between the Lines

by Tabithian



Series: Ordinary Ways [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 08:07:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4780031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabithian/pseuds/Tabithian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's something weird going on in one of the neighborhoods Jason patrols.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between the Lines

**Author's Note:**

> zitaoholic asked for something in this AU, so. Yes. :)?
> 
>  
> 
> Based on [this exchange](http://archiveofourown.org/comments/38630999) with clarityhiding because reasons.

There's something weird going on in one of the neighborhoods Jason patrols.

He'll see these kids, really young ones who shouldn't even be out this late flashing these signs to one another and running off.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Jackie, one of the supposedly surly teenagers who likes to loiter outside the corner convenience store smirks. 

Jason – Blue Jay – has known her for a while now, sees her every so often when he passes through. Always looking out for the younger kids, something that had gotten her into trouble that Jason had gotten her out of once. 

“They're runners for Red,” she says, ashes her cigarette. “No one messes with his kids.”

“What?”

Jackie shakes her head, pityingly, and Jason sees a little flash of red on her ear. “You don't know about him?”

“Apparently not,” Jason says, stealing her cigarette. “Why don't you fill me in?”

Jackie scowls. “First rule of Red's little club,” she says, raises a hand to the little red stud in her ear, shows her teeth. “You don't talk about Red's little club.”

********

“Sounds like Fight Club.”

Jason sighs, looking over to where Dick's working on some kind of data analysis at the Batcomputer. 

Bruce is off dealing with a crisis with the Justice League, which leaves Gotham in their hands for the time being. (Well, theirs and Oracle and her Birds.)

“With elementary school age kids?”

Dick turns around to look at him. “You seem to have forgotten how vicious kids can be at that age.”

And. 

Okay, point. 

Kids are bloodthirsty little monsters.

Still.

“Fight club, really?”

********

Jason goes back the next night, Dick shadowing him on the rooftops. A voice in his ear because he's weirdly interested in an elementary school fight club.

“Okay, so.”

Jackie looks at Jason, eyes narrowing.

“We talked about this already,” she says, voice like steel. 

“No, no,” Jason says, “I got that. What I want to know about tonight is this Red character.”

Jackie snorts, flicks ashes at Jason's feet. “Yeah?”

Jason shrugs. “Kind of important to know who the players are in my line of work, you know?”

That gets him a look, Jackie mulling things over in her head. “He's not your kind of trouble,” she says after a moment. "Red doesn't get involved in stuff like that.”

Like Jason hasn't heard that before.

“Then you shouldn't have any problem telling me about him.”

_Smooth, little brother._

“You're not going to let this go, are you?”

Not really, no.

“Thought not,” Jackie says, eyeing Jason. “You promise not to start anything, and I'll see what I can do.”

“You have that kind of pull with him?”

Jackie laughs, and the look she gives Jason for that is. Fond? Something like that.

“He knows you've been sniffing around,” Jackie says. “I think he'd rather talk to you then have you come in and make a mess of things before you know what's going on.”

_I don't like this._

Jason isn't that big of a fan of it, either, but.

“When?”

Jackie shrugs. “He doesn't make it down here every night, you know.” 

_Interesting._

“Come back in a couple of days, I should have an answer for you then.”

********

Dick's hit a dead-end in his case, and - 

“No,” Jason says, firmly. “I don't think this guy's going to take it well when I ask if you can come too, Dick. It's not a goddamn field trip.”

Dick laughs, flicks Jason's forehead.

Says, absolutely no give in his voice, “Tough, little brother. I'm not letting you do this alone. Not when we know next to nothing about him.”

Jason opens his mouth to argue the point, but then he looks up, sees the expression on Dick's face.

The worry, concern, even though he knows Jason can take care of himself, _because_.

“Christ, fine, okay. Don't be surprised if he goes to ground, though, when he sees your ugly mug.”

Dick growls, and Jason has the briefest of moments to brace himself before he gets tackled out of the computer chair, Dick searching out vulnerabilities like ticklish spots and Jason doing his best to return the favor.

********

“There are some things you need to know, before you talk to Red,” Jackie says, no cigarette in sight.

“Like?”

Jackie runs a hand through her hair, looks up to where Dick is hardly being subtle about following him, crouched on the fire escape.

“He.” She shakes her head, frowns. “The kids, okay. They – we - called him Red Hood when he first started coming around, but he doesn't like that.”

Jason can't say he's all that fond of it either, considering. (Strange, the things you get a little obsessed with, after it almost kills you. Leaves you with scars, nightmares.)

And then, when it registers - 

“Wait. How long has this guy been around?”

Jackie looks at him, kind of like he's an idiot. 

“Red's been around for years,” she says. “You really didn't know?”

Jason ignores that, focuses on the other really disturbing thing he's learned tonight. 

“Red Hood?”

Jason wasn't aware most people knew about that, or. Really, people these days.

It's been a while since the Red Hood disappeared, after all, and the Joker first came on the scene.

Jackie looks away, shoulders hunching a little.

“He said. Said it'd be bad luck, or something. It really bothered him, and. He never really explained it, but some things stick, you know?”

“I'm guessing there's a reason you all call him that?”

Jackie shrugs. 

“You'll understand when you meet him.” Jackie looks up at Dick, wry twist of her lips. “Both of you.”

“Oh, well,” Dick says, does some of his flippy bullshit to get down to street level, all unnecessary flips and flourishes. “If you insist.”

Jackie shares a look with Jason.

“I know, right?” Jason says. “Total showoff, that guy.”

“Hey.”

“Red said you'd probably try to sneak in anyway,” Jackie says, and she sounds amused. “He told me to bring both of you.”

It's Dick's turn to share a look with Jason.

“That's. Kind of creepy,” Jason says.

“Says the kid in a weird costume running around Gotham at night with his buddies,” Jackie says, eyebrow going up.

“I. Yeah, okay.”

********

Jason isn't really sure what he was expecting, but this.

“I'm going to be honest,” Dick says, studying some of the artwork hanging up. “This isn't exactly the kind of place I was expecting.”

Jackie laughs, gives Jason a look. “Like I told Bluebird here, Red isn't your kind of trouble.”

Jason grimaces when Dick's face lights up, and the asshole mouths _Bluebird?_ at him, utterly delighted.

“That's not - “

“No?” Jackie cocks her head. “You kind of look like a Bluebird to me.”

Jason slides a look at Dick, who - 

“Shut up.”

There's a little burst of laughter, tiny, and when they turn Jason sees one of the kids he'd seen the other day tugging an even smaller kid away, shock of bright red hair and wide eyes.

Jason looks up and sees a lot of familiar faces looking back at him, them. The kids he'd seen the other day, a few nights since then when he had time to check up on them. Some wary, most excited to be this close to Nightwing and Blue Jay. (Okay, mostly Nightwing. Blue Jay's a little less well known.)

Thing is, it's late, and community center or not, these kids should be at home, _sleeping_.

“Their parents work the graveyard shift,” someone says. “And there's no one to watch them while they're at work, so they come here.”

Jason turns to see - 

It's a _kid_ , wearing a red hoodie, hood pulled up. The lighting's bad in here, but there's enough to see the edges of a mask over his face, the way he's careful not to show what little of his face isn't covered.

“Red Hood?” Jason asks, watches the kid _not_ flinch.

“Not quite,” he says, turns his head to look at the little pack of kids crowded around him. “More like - “

“Little Red Riding Hood!” the tiny redheaded kid blurts, face turning an alarming shade of red as he scurries behind Red, hiding his face against his leg.

Red snorts, drops a hand on the kid's head. 

“Something like that, yeah,” he says, downright fond.

Dick looks at Jason, and he shrugs. This is really not what he was expecting when - 

“Jake,” Red says, looking at Jason. “You're the one who saw Blue Jay the other night, right?”

A blond kid with crazy hair nods, hooking a thumb at another blonde kid covered in freckles. “I was meeting Bobby.”

These kids are so damn young.

Red tilts his head, curve of his smile visible. “Show them the signs?”

Jake and Bobby look at Jason and Dick dubiously, like they're the untrustworthy ones here.

“They're safe,” Red says. “You know that. Remember what I told you?”

Jake's face loses the suspicious edge, along with Bobby's. “The Bats are the good guys,” the kids say dutifully. “If we're ever in trouble we can go to them, no matter what.”

Red grins, still watching Jason. “What else?”

Jake fidgets, pushing Bobby, who says, “Even if Batman looks like a grumpy old man, he's really nice?”

Dick snorts, lips curving, and Jason - 

“Oh my God.”

Red laughs, this quiet little thing. 

“Okay, now show them the signs and you're all going back to bed.”

There's a collective groan at that, and Red flashes Jason another grin, like he knows about how well thing are going to go getting these little punks to sleep now.

Jake and Bobby turn so they're facing one another and Jason and Dick watch as they do a ridiculously complicated handshake that, okay, from a distance could possibly resemble gang signs.

“They came up with that on their own,” Red says, watching Jackie usher the little monsters off to where they're presumably going to sleep. 

Jason.

“What do you do?” Jason finds himself asking. “These kids - “

Red waves a hand at the community center. Old, probably built in the seventies, going from the general design, little bits of décor no one's bothered to change.

Everything looks well-worn, used and carefully tended to.

“This, mostly,” he says. “I didn't plan on this, the kids, but. The older ones like Jackie help out when I can't be here.”

Dick has a look on his face, like he's wondering where the fuck the adults are in this little scenario. Something Jason would also love to know.

“There are adults involved in this, too,” Red says, at the looks on their faces. “But not enough to cover the night shift like this.”

Red lets that sink in, deliberate, and shrugs again. “I deal in information too, a little. Whatever the kids pick up and remember to tell me. A few other sources out there who don't mind trading information for favors or the like.”

“Wait,” Jason says, looks in the direction the kids went, little snap of anger in his voice, because fucking _Gotham_. “You send the kids out to get information for you?”

Red looks at him, evaluating.

“No,” he says. “Who notices kids anymore? They hear things over the course of their day, and if they remember, think it's important enough, they tell me. That's it. I don't put them in danger. Not for anything.”

Bite in _his_ voice, towards the end, little bit of threat, and Jason remembers Jackie telling him no one messed with Red's kids. 

Thinks, looking at this kid, there's a reason for that.

Dick - 

“About the kids,” Dick says, slow, thinking. “We might be able to help out? At least about the staffing issue here. There are people we could talk to.”

Red snorts, and Jason.

The way Red's looking at Dick, at Jason, makes Jason think he knows more than he should.

“Do that, and I might be able to dig up some information on your latest case.”

Dick gives Red a _look_ , and Red just smiles.

“What?” he says, and that's laughter in his voice. “I talk to Oracle.”

********

There's a burst of noise as the door to the school library opens, chatter of students in the courtyard beyond, cut off a someone pulls it shut with an annoyed grunt.

“Jason?”

Jason groans, scrunches himself deeper into the irregular little alcove at the back of the library. Hidden by bookshelves, wobbly tables, and three-legged chairs that get shoved this far back and forgotten in the face of more important matters.

Perfect spot to take a nap when he has an open period in his class schedule after a long night.

Dick dragging Jason along with him to have a little discussion with Barbara after meeting with Red. Listening to the two of them doing their weird flirting-not-flirting thing and going through Barbara's files on Red.

Not a lot of information, really. 

Just a tentative date of his first appearance years ago, like Jackie had said. Back when Jason had been Robin, _before_.

Little notes here and there, attributing various bits of information and tips Red had sent Barbara's way after she took on the role of Oracle. A few question marks next to some of them, the ones Barbara suspects the little shit had a hand in but couldn't prove without a doubt.

A couple of altercations, blurry surveillance footage of the kid taking on some punks who'd tried to mess with his kids, something so damn familiar about it he couldn't pin down, too tired to think straight by that point. 

Another little mystery Gotham loves so much, but one who works with Barbara from time to time, has helped them out even though they didn't know. 

Kind of a low priority, in the grander scheme of things, really. (Doesn't mean Jason's not going to find out who the little shit is, though. Not after he set Dick off like that.)

He can hear Tim's little huff of laughter, scuff of his feet over the carpeting as he moves closer.

“Did you pull another all-nighter?”

There's something in his voice that has Jason opening his eyes to look at him. “What?”

Tim smiles at him, this crooked little thing Jason seems to be getting from him more and more these days.

“The only time I find you trying to take a nap in here is when you put writing one of your essays off until the night before, so.”

Jason - 

“Seriously,” Tim says, settling himself against the wall, barrier between the rest of the library and Jason's napping spot. “It's a bad habit to get into, you know? You're going to hit an essay you can't BS your way through one of these days, and then what are you going to do?”

There's an annoyingly little smug grin curling the corners of his mouth.

“What are you talking about, Tim? There's no such thing,” Jason says through a yawn. “I can BS my way through anything you can throw at me.”

Tim rolls his eyes, grin softening. “Go back to sleep, I'll wake you up before the bell rings.”

Jason grumbles, another yawn breaking free. “Hate that fucking thing,” he mumbles, already drifting off to sleep. “It's not a bell, it's a damn chime. The hell is that?”

Tim's soft laughter follows him down into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't remember if it's widely known that Joker was Red Hood, so in this AU only a few people know. Bruce and the Bats, Jim Gordon, people who were around and involved at the time. Something that's more or less forgotten by the general public when this AU takes place. 
> 
> Because reasons. :D?


End file.
